Pink, a color or not a color? that is the question…
For all you pink lovers out there news flash! PINK is not a color.
Ok well that is a little harsh. Pink, or the official name of magenta, sorta exist. What do I mean by this? Well it’s really all in the science.
Science behind it all:
Image via Wikipedia
Magenta is the only color that does not exist as a single wavelength of light. All the other colors have their own wavelength of light. Now what do I mean my wavelength of light. There are this thing called the the electromagnetic spectrum, or the range of all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation. Within this range is radio waves, x-rays, ultraviolet rays, and visible radiation rays or light. This means that there are certain waves that the eye can perceive, and the speed of the wave is the color you see. Red is the slowest and violet is the fastest visible light— with all of the colors in the middle, minus magenta. Magenta or pink is actually a mixture of two wavelengths- blue and red, which is what I mean by is does not exist as a single wavelength of light.
So how does the eye see color?
Well as you know from the last post seeing is all about light being interpreted in the brain. When our eyes see colors they are actually taking the wavelengths of the light hitting our retina, send them to the brain, and have the brain process it into color. This means that colors only exist in the brain. If the eye receives light of more than one wavelength, the color generated in the brain is formed by mixing the wavelengths. For example, if red light and green light enter the eye at the same time, the resulting color produced in the brain is yellow, the color halfway between red and green in the spectrum. But what happens when we the retina gets wavelengths from both sides of the spectrum (red and violet wavelengths)? According to science it has two options:
a) Sum the input responses to produce a color halfway between red and violet in the spectrum (which would in this case produce green – not a very representative color of a red and violet mix)
b) Invent a new color halfway between red and violet
If we were to take the light spectrum and make a circle there would be a gap where all of the other electromagnetic waves would fit. Our eyes and brains cannot process this gap.Pink is the evidence that the brain takes option b – it has apparently constructed a color to bridge the gap between red and violet, because such a color does not exist in the light spectrum. Magenta has no wavelength attributed to it, unlike all the other spectrum colors. [source]
Here is the challenge in the post (there is more than one):
Here’s an experiment you can try: stare at the pink circle below for about one minute, then look over at the blank white space next to the image. What do you see? You should see an afterimage. What color is it?
You should have seen a green afterimage. Why do we see green as an after image?
In this optical illusion you can notice a green circling dot, if you fixate your gaze on the cross. The green dot does not exist in the picture proper but is produced by the retina as an afterimage complimentary in color to the magenta dots.
Stare at the dot in the middle of the image below – you should see all the colors melt away. Why do all the colors melt away?
Happy exploring!
Michaela
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